A periodic table hangs on the wall of a classroom where six people gather on a Wednesday evening, not to study the elements, but to enter into a world of dragons, heroes and magic. This group numbers among many formed through Texas Dungeons & Dragons.
Longhorns established the current iteration of Texas DnD in 2019, bringing the fun of tabletop roleplaying games (TTRPGs), especially DnD, to the Forty Acres. Despite facing periods of dormancy during the organization’s inception in 2019, Texas DnD boasts an active social media presence, group-making opportunities, workshops and a library of digital and physical resources free for members to use. These allow members to play Dungeons & Dragons with as few obstacles as possible and no membership fees.
“A lot of tabletop roleplaying games like DnD have always been cost-prohibitive,” Zen Marks, president and senior education major, said. “Source books, minis and dice are expensive, so (we make) those things accessible to students.”
Marks recognized that another reason students might not choose to play TTRPGs lies in the fact that they simply do not know how to start playing. To address this, Marks spearheaded the implementation of workshops, including DnD 101, Dungeon Master — running games of Dungeons & Dragons — and roleplaying workshops.
“Community is the biggest thing,” Marks said. “There are so many student orgs … focused on academics and … career furthering, which are great … but something that’s important to me … is how important it is for people to have literal community.”
Ryan Read, a first-year neuroscience Ph.D. student, discovered Texas DnD last semester upon arriving on campus and created a group where they serve as Dungeon Master. Read said they were impressed by the number of students at the first group-making sessions held by the organization at the beginning of last semester.
“I think a big, clear resource people tend to use is each other,” Read said. “The club is very open about, ‘Hey, here’s a person you can talk to about (how to play).’”
Read began their Dungeons and Dragons campaign at the beginning of last semester and continues to run sessions nearly every Wednesday. Ryan Webster, a geology freshman and member of Read’s campaign, discovered Texas DnD through HornsLink and integrated the club into his schedule.
“Having (Texas DnD be) that inviting space, to be able to go there and just find a group of people, fit in and (play) was a lot of fun,” Webster said. “Having that consistent group meet once a week has … helped (me) settle into (UT).”
The organization offers different experiences depending on how one chooses to interact with it. Marks plays an active role as an officer, while Webster’s weekly game sessions fulfill his participation in the organization. Similar to the collaborative storytelling of Dungeons and Dragons, Longhorns can customize their experiences with orgs like Texas DnD.
“You don’t even have to know anything (about DnD),” Marks said. “Being willing to engage in something new says a lot about what kind of person you are and how you’re willing to be curious about the world outside of what you might know.”
